


useless me and useful you

by dannyboii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Anyways, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Drug Use, Gay Keith (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance gets involved in some shit dawg, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Death, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, lance is a very powerful wizard, the whole kit and kaboodle, whatever that means
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 05:56:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18219110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannyboii/pseuds/dannyboii
Summary: So his name was Lance. Why did that sound so familiar?





	useless me and useful you

**Author's Note:**

> "Sam, stop posting new works when you have so many other ones to work on-"
> 
> LOOK,,,,, this one and the other one I just posted have been sitting in my docs for like a year. It's about time I did something about them I like writing new things for everyone but because I get so excited about it, it because a multi-chapter work I never finish and then I feel bad because you guys like my writing and I'm over here like, upset with myself because I want to update but i can't find the motivation to do so and das no Bueno. anywayyyyyysssssuh-- enjoy <3
> 
> (Ah btw in like 6 days I have an appointment with a psychiatrist named Patrick who looks kinda creepy and unsettling and I'm gonna see if he can give me the answers to my probleeeemmmsssss~~~~~~~

Keith was in love, probably. Probably not, though, but probably yes. Watering the flowers in front of the coffee shop he works at, Keith feels his eyes being pulled towards a tall and dark-skinned person across the street. They had on a simple navy blue t-shirt and black slacks. It was a strange fashion combination to Keith, but let’s be honest; when Keith isn’t working he’s not the most fashion-forward person he knows. Keith watched this person as they performed tricks on the sidewalk, drawing a rather large crowd. Keith was still having a hard time discerning this person’s gender, due to the visual impairment that was the large crowd, and due to the fact that Keith wasn’t wearing his contacts this morning.

 

It was when the person boisterously laughed, that Keith realized that the figure was most likely male. As Keith loosely held onto the hose, he watched the tall guy present a full water bottle to the crowd. The guy was so loud that Keith hardly struggled to listen in on his performance.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, here I have a full bottle of water! Or is it?” he teased, winking at a blonde girl nearby. He took a sip from the bottle and made a face of mild disgust. “Kkkkhh, nope! It’s actually vodka! Yum!”

 

The crowd laughed.

 

“Now, you guys are probably wondering, ‘Lance, why do you have a water bottle filled with Vodka? Are you going to drink on the job??’ And the answer to that, ladies and gentlemen, is no because this shit is gross!”

 

The crowd laughed again.

 

So his name was Lance. Why did that sound so familiar?

 

Lance screwed the cap back onto the clear plastic water bottle. “Now- does anybody know the freezing point of alcohol? Anybody?”

 

A businessman raised his hand.

 

“Yes! You!”

 

The businessman gave his answer, but Keith couldn’t hear what it was.

 

“Close, my nicely dressed friend! It is actually negative one-hundred and seventy-three point five degrees Fahrenheit! Which is a very, very, very low temperature! Obviously! Now, you’re probably thinking, ‘Lance! Are you going to try to freeze that bottle of hard alcohol!?’ And my answer, lovely audience, is that I’m not going to be trying anything- no, no, because I am going to freeze this bottle of alcohol!”

 

The crowd cheered in excitement.

 

“But I’m not going to hold it in my hand and freeze it because that’s boring. Instead, I’m going to do this-!” And with that, Lance threw the water bottle up high into the air, raised his hand into the shape of a pretend-gun, his pointer finger as the barrel, and shot a blast of ice magic into the air, directly hitting the water bottle. Suddenly, the temperature all around seemed to drop about twenty degrees or so. As the water bottle fell back down to Earth, Lance caught it in one hand and lifted the water bottle up for all to see. And everybody, even Keith somewhat, could see that the contents of the water bottle were frozen completely solid. Keith was appalled.

 

Keith has heard of powerful magic wielders, like dwarves and faeries that still used Old Magic and used their powers to wipe out entire army fleets that consisted of thousands. He’s heard those stories multiple times during his entire school life, about how those dwarves and fairies were still alive thanks to Old Magic. Sometimes, Keith wished to meet an Old Magic wielder. 

 

However, looking at this Lance person across the street, those Old Magic wielders suddenly looked childish compared to the great amount of strength that he just expelled. Lance didn’t even look tired from it. He didn’t look flushed or drastically worn out like typical witches and wizards do when they use a high-powered spell. Instead, he looks as if he just magically lifted a box of tissues across the table.

 

Keith found himself afraid, almost, of this stranger across the street.

 

Suddenly, the door to the coffee shop opened and out peeked Allura, his boss, and longtime friend.

 

“Keith, I know that wizard is pretty, but please stop raising my water bill.”

 

Keith blinked, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be watering the flowers, not drowning them. He turned the hose faucet knob all the way off and quickly scrambled inside.

 

“Sorry, Allura, I just got distracted.”

 

Allura narrowed her eyes and placed a teasing smile on her face. “Because the wizard was so pretty?”

 

“What? No, I couldn’t even see his face that well, I’m not wearing my contacts this morning, I forgot.” Keith shook his head. “But Allura, did you not just see what he did?”

 

Allura shook her head, the action causing her ceramic skin to scrape against itself gently. “No?”

 

“He froze a water bottle full of hard alcohol as if it was nothing! With just the blast of his finger! It was absolutely insane!”

 

Allura looked mildly impressed. “Wow, that is insane.”

 

Keith looked at her. “Could you please be a little more enthused?”

 

“Keith, I can only express so much with this body of mine,” she explained for what seemed like the millionth time since Keith’s met her, gesturing to her entire body. It was a life-size ceramic doll body, made specifically for her. She stood at a whopping six feet and one inch tall. “As extremely grateful I am for my late parents and everything they could do for me, I do wish they had made me a body out of a more- flexible, material.”

 

Keith did a once-over of Allura. He was taking in the way her white acrylic hair reflected the light, how it always looked glossy and soft and clean. That it always looked so artificially healthy, because it was. He took in her bright pink and blue doll eyes, the way their glossy finish seemed to reflect everything she saw, like tiny little mirrors. He also took in the dark chipping paint on her visible joints and fingertips, that in certain spots there was discoloration from Allura painting her “skin” back on herself. However, her left arm, from the hand to the elbow joint, was several shades darker than the rest of her ceramic body. He remembers that she said she had slipped on a puddle and shattered her arm in her driveway. She had ordered a new one online that very same day, hoping to receive it within the week, until she got an email stating that it was on backorder until further notice, leaving her without a functional arm for three whole months.

 

Keith thought about the events Allura went through to get where she was now. She was at the young age of eleven when she was struck by a car and paralyzed from the neck down, leaving her immobilized and helpless. He remembers seeing her in the hospital a lot, while visiting his father, looking exhausted and overwhelmed. When she was moved out of pediatrics all you could hear through the door of her room, when she was alone, was soft crying. He remembers her screaming at a nurse when the said nurse asked her to try and wiggle her toes or move her fingers. At that point, Allura was fed up with everything life had to offer her at the age of nineteen. She hated the life she lived. She wanted to go play and run and have actual friends instead of doctors. She just wanted to die!

 

Keith was in the hallway outside her door when he heard her say that. That very moment, he remembers his blood running cold.

 

Keith blinked and found himself back inside the coffee shop, Allura waving a hand in front of his eyes.

 

“Hey, you okay?” She asked, concern clear in her voice.

 

Keith nodded. “Yeah, sorry, just got lost in thought for a sec. You know how it gets.”

 

She hummed in agreement and walked towards the neon OPEN sign and clicked it on, the blue and red lights coming to life. Keith noticed that Allura was barefooted today.

 

“Care to explain the lack of footwear?” He asked. She looked down at her feet, then back up at Keith and shrugged.

 

“Dunno,” she said. “I had them on earlier.”

 

“And?” he asked. “Where did they go?”

 

She shrugged again. “Not entirely sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some tiny little Norzel stole them.”

 

Norzels were like rats and mice except they stole things, and washed your dirty dishes. They were a very clean and organized species. Plus, they came in bright colors like blue, pink, orange and whatnot. Allura’s cafe had a small burrow of them under the building and she often left out small dishes of food for them overnight.

 

Keith wasn’t a big fan of Norzels. They took his glasses last week.

 

Because Allura isn’t in her original body, she doesn’t have that much feeling anywhere, which is how the Norzels were able to steal her shoes. She often drops glasses and rags and pens and other various items, but she tries her best and Keith respects her for that.

 

Allura sat down at a bar stool placed in front of the main counter. “Hey,” she said. “Didn’t that wizard guy sound familiar to you? Like, his laugh?”

 

Keith thought for a moment. “I mean, sort of? But a lot of wizards and witches who do street performances have over exaggerated laughs like that.”

 

Allura hummer in thought. “I mean, yeah, but he sounded so familiar! Like, alarmingly so! Were you able to catch his name?”

 

“I mean, he said his name was Lance, so-”

 

“AAAH!” Allura jumped up from her seat, slightly stumbling. “Lance! It’s Lance!”

 

“What?”

 

“Lance McClain! That was Lance McClain the valedictorian of your high school! The guy that everybody adored!”

 

Keith furrowed his brow in thought. Then the name dawned on him. His face when hot.

 

“AAAAAAAHHH!!! AH HAH HAH!” Keith screamed. “Lance! What the fuck! What is he doing back in town? I thought he was attending that one university upstate?”

 

Allura frowned. “Who knows? Maybe he already graduated?”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s only been like two years, Allura.”

 

“That means nothing in the eyes of a genius!”

 

“Oh brother, Allura please,” Keith sighed. “That guy is not a genius, he’s just a pretty boy show off who thinks he deserves the world. Trust me.”

 

“Didn’t you have a cru-”

 

“Suddenly, I’ve gone deaf!” Keith exclaimed throwing his hands in the air and clambering over the counter and onto the floor.

 

“That is so unsanitary,” Allura laughed, rolling her eyes.

 

“I’ll bleach it later,” Keith said, standing up and dusting himself off. He snagged his off-white apron from a lower shelf and tied it around his waist. Old coffee stains were visible across his front. Keith checked over himself to see if he fell into some coffee grounds. He did not.

 

As of now, Keith was wearing his work uniform; a black long sleeve button-up overshirt and a pair of white skinny jeans that were not his choice. Allura said they made all of the employee's butts look great. Keith thought that that was sexual harassment.

 

“It is not!” she would say. “Doesn’t everyone want a great-looking butt? I know I do!”

 

And Keith would end up ignoring her as she rambled on about the “butt-lifting technology” that clothing lines have been showing off and selling to the people. He would never tell her that she needed to worry about anything like that, because of her entire being made out of ceramic and whatnot.

 

Keith then turned his attention to the front door, watching as a pair of regular customers came in. Although Keith saw them nearly every day, he could never remember their names. One customer was a small girl with long, mousy brown hair and eyes of the same color. She was very sarcastic and a bit rude at times, but all around a nice customer. The other one was a very tall ogre with thick dark brown skin and small horns on his forehead. His elbows were decorated in various bandages of varying colors and sizes. Keith remembers that he picks at the dry skin on them when he’s anxious. Which is quite often. Their names were alluding Keith. God, what were they?

“Hey, Keith!” said the small girl, waving her hand. A spoon nearby mimicked her action. She glared at the spoon and it dropped back onto the counter. “Can I just get my usual, please? I’ve been up for forty minutes and I already want to go back to bed.”

 

Keith nodded. “Yeah sure, no problem,” he turned to the tall ogre. “Usual for you too, big guy?”

 

The ogre nodded. “Yes, please.”

 

“Alright, coming right up for you guys,” Keith said, alright getting the things he needed.

 

The small girl spoke up. “Wait, we need to pay!”

 

Keith waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, don’t worry about it, right Allura?”

 

Allura nodded. She had sat back down at the bar. “Of course, you two are our most loyal customers! Take this as thanks for your patronage, Katie and Hunk!”

 

Keith knew he could always count on Allura for names.

 

Katie and Hunk looked at one another before Katie reached into her brown leather tri-fold wallet and placed a $5 bill into the tip jar. Hunk then reached into his pocket and pulled out a large handful of change and spilled it all into the jar as well. Hunk was going to pay for his coffee in change. That fucker.

 

“Oh, should we get Lance something, too?” Katie asked, looking up at Hunk. Hunk shrugged. “You’re right, he did earn a lot of tips today, he can buy his own drink.”

 

“Hey,” Keith said. “I have a question for you, K-Katie.”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“Did Lance really freeze alcohol with just his finger?”

 

Katie rolled her eyes. “Yes, he did, and he never shuts up about it! ‘Ooh! Look what I can do! I can make tequila popsicles! Oooh, party favors! Oooh!”

 

“Incredible,” Keith whispered. “Simply incredible.”

 

“Who is? Me?” said a voice. Looking up, Keith saw Lance, his old classmate. Suddenly, Keith felt himself revert back to high school Keith. The Keith that Keith hated the most.

 

“No, Lance, not you,” Keith lied, a scowl on his face. “Never you.”

 

Lance looked Keith right in the eye. His brows furrowed slightly, a sign that he was immediately ticked off. He must remember Keith. “What would you even know about incredible, mortal? You think you can have an opinion on my magic when you’ve never done so much as blow on a leaf?”

 

“I don’t need magic to have an opinion on it, Lance. I know bad magic when I see it.”

 

Keith and Lance were glaring at each other from across the counter now, mentally at each other’s throats. Katie, Hunk, and Allura, were looking back and forth between the two of them, completely unsure of what to do.

 

“Bad magic?” Lance scoffed, slowly approaching the counter. He grabbed Keith by his collar and lowered his voice. “Really? You think freezing a bottle of alcohol with a single finger is bad magic? Imagine how bad my magic can be when I deep-freeze your body, mullet.”

 

Not gonna lie, Keith thought that that was pretty hot.

 

Keith grinned at Lance. “I’d like to see you try.”

 

Suddenly, frost began to spread from the hand clenched around Keith’s collar. Lance was holding back severely on his magic, Keith could tell. They didn’t break eye contact until Lance suddenly let go of Keith’s now lightly frosted-over collar and stepped away from the counter.

 

“You’re not worth my magic or my time, mullet,” Lance said, clicking his tongue. He looked at Hunk and Katie. “I’ll see you guys back at the house.”

 

“Okay,” Katie said, rolling her eyes. “See you in a bit.”

 

Hunk silently waved with one hand, as he picked at his band-aids with the other. Katie gently grabbed his hand and whispered something to him. He nodded and put his hands in the pockets of his black cargo shorts.

 

Katie crossed her arms and watched at Lance left the coffee shop. “Sorry, Keith, he always gets like that when someone insults his magic. I don’t get why you weren’t just honest him though. A compliment from an old ‘rival’ probably would have changed his entire opinion of you.”

 

Keith was confused. “Rival? What do you mean?”

 

Katie sighed in frustration. “Every time he saw you in high school, he always went on and on and on about how he had to beat you in everything you did. No matter what. It was really, really annoying. And he actually thought you were a really strong wizard until junior year when you guys shared an Enchantment class together. He was, I don’t know, surprised? I guess? Or something, because for a few months he was really down in the dumps about it. But then like, a month before summer break, he had a giant boost to his ego and would not shut up about how he finally beat you or whatever. It was really annoying.”

 

Keith blinked. “Clearly. Why did he think I was a wizard? I never performed any magic at school or said I was a wizard in the first place.”

 

“Look, man,” Katie said. She glanced at the cafe doors. “Lance doesn’t want anyone to know this, especially you, but he sort of had a really big thing for you throughout high school. Like, really big. He nearly asked you out a few times in a Senior year.”

 

“Wh-” Keith struggled to find words. His throat suddenly became tight. “What? Even after he found out I’m mortal? Why?”

 

Hunk pulled his hands out of his pockets, one of which immediately migrated to an available elbow, the other hanging loosely at his side. “Lance really liked you, okay? He still might, we’re not sure. He’s been acting weird ever since he came back from Portland.”

 

Keith suddenly grew curious. “Like, what do you mean?”

 

Hunk looked unsure. “I don’t know exactly, but he’s been super shifty and paranoid for months ever since he’s come back. It’s like he’s afraid of something.”

 

A few months ago?

 

“A few months ago?” Keith asked, searching his thoughts for anything he might have seen on the news. That university in Portland… Lance being back for a few months… “Oh shit,” Keith realized. “That drug. That one drug that killed like, twenty people and sent ten others to the hospital.”

 

Katie and Hunk nodded. “Yeah,” Katie confirmed. “We think Lance got mixed up in it and took some. Obviously, he didn’t do it more than three times otherwise he’d be dead, but he might be suffering from some really bad withdrawal.”

 

“But it’s been months since he might have taken some, right?” Keith asked. “Shit like that shouldn’t be able to last that long.”

 

Hunk looked uneasy. “I dunno man, a couple of those people are still in the hospital for it. I even think one of them might be suffering from psychosis.”

 

“Psychosis? Just how powerful was this drug?”

 

“Incredibly,” said Katie. She waved a hand dismissively and sent all the nearby silverware flying into the wall. “God damn it,” she groaned. With another wave of her hand, all of the forks and knives and spoons fell from the wall and onto the floor. “Sorry guys, I'm having an off day today. Anyways, the reports said that the drug had a high concentration of wizard blood, which as we all should know, is dangerous in large amounts, however, this wizard's blood was so powerful that it killed people. That's not supposed to happen. Everyone knows that.”

 

“Wait,” Keith held up his hands in a  _ time-out _ gesture. “Are you saying whoever's blood that is, they're more powerful than an Old Magic user?”

 

Katie nodded. “Yup.” She said, popping the ‘p’.

 

“Is that even possible?” Allura asked, her voice strained.

 

“It’s not supposed to be,” Hunk said. “Everyone knows that Old Magic users are the strongest beings out there. There aren’t supposed to be wandering wizards with greater abilities. That’s never been a thing before. Or at least a thing any of us have heard of.”

 

“Do you think whoever this person is, is dangerous?” Allura wondered. She started picking at chipping paint on her fingertips. “They must be, since they hurt so many people, right?”

 

“Well, nobody really knows for sure,” Katie said. “A lot of people are theorizing that someone could have held this person hostage and taken their blood, or that this person could be in a financial crisis and desperately needed the money. Personally, I don’t really have an opinion on the situation, but I swear to the Old Magic users, that if people start dying in this town because of this weird, fucked up drug, I’m moving.”

 

Then the conversation died.

 

Katie looked up at Hunk. “We should get going, Lance is probably wondering where we are.” As if on cue, Katie’s phone chimed. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked through her notifications. “Ah, speak of the devil.” she hummed. Looking away from her phone, she looked at Keith and Allura separately. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow?”

 

Allura gave Katie a soft expression. “Of course,” she accepted.

 

And with that, Katie and Hunk leave the coffee shop, leaving Keith and Allura alone to clean up the scattered silverware.

 

It was quiet.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh so like,,,, Pidge has uncontrollable telekinesis and is constantly having to focus on not throwing everything everywhere, and when something inevitably flies across the room, she feels incredibly embarrassed about it.
> 
> TELL ME IF THERE ARE ANY TYPOS AND ILL FIX THEM I DONT HAVE A BETA


End file.
